Job Description:

The VP, Salesforce Solutions is a senior pre-sale and solutioning leader within Merkle's Data Driven Marketing (DDM) business unit, bringing to bear the full depth of Merkle's Salesforce ecosystem (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud, Agentforce, and emerging Salesforce innovations), along with our core Data Engineering and Merkury capabilities to solve client and prospective client business challenges in ways that drive measurable CX and commercial outcomes.

This role connects platform expertise, business strategy and client discovery to frame business challenges in ways that inspire compelling — and credible — solution architectures. The candidate must be capable of operating as a trusted strategic partner to senior and C-level client stakeholders while leading internal multi-disciplinary pursuit teams toward differentiated, winnable proposals.

Note: This is NOT a delivery or implementation role. It is the strategic advisory role that shapes whether Merkle wins the work and ensures that the recommended platform approach and scope are aligned with client objectives and Merkle's capabilities.

Position Requirements & Scope

This position is aligned with Merkle's Solutions & Alliance Practice and embedded within the Data-Driven Marketing (DDM) practice which carries revenue and gross margin accountability across a portfolio of data, identity, AI, and MarTech engagements. DDM operates at scale — with a $150M+ revenue base, a proprietary identity platform (Merkury), and established partnerships with Salesforce, Snowflake, and Tealium.

The VP, Salesforce Solutions will own the pre-sales solutioning function for Salesforce multi-cloud and Agentforce solutions — working in close partnership with account leaders, sellers, and delivery architects to shape and win complex, multi-workstream engagements. This role will interface directly with VP and C-suite executives across client organizations, requiring sophisticated business acumen, Salesforce platform fluency, and the ability to bridge Salesforce capabilities into client business outcomes.

This is a named, visible practice leadership role with direct accountability to pipeline contribution and win rate for Salesforce-anchored opportunities within DDM.

Critical Role Requirements

The VP, Salesforce Solutions is responsible for ensuring that every Salesforce Cloud pursuit Merkle enters is shaped with precision, differentiated with depth, and positioned to win. This role is essential for:

Pre-Sales Solution Positioning:

• Owning the solutioning process for Salesforce and Agentforce pursuits — from initial discovery through final proposal — ensuring that every architecture recommendations are aligned with client business outcomes, commercially defensible, and directly responsive to the client’s stated and unstated business objectives.

Platform Positioning & Differentiation

• Developing and maintaining Merkle's strategic and technical point of view on Salesforce Cloud ecosystem, including how different Salesforce clouds integrate and where Merkle creates differentiation.

Executive-Level Client Partnership

• Serving as Merkle's senior technical authority in client-facing pursuit settings, translating Salesforce capabilities and trade-offs into business-relevant narratives, building confidence with VP and C-suite stakeholders, and establishing credibility for long-term advisory relationships.

Salesforce Alliance Engagement

• Collaborating with Salesforce's partner and co-sell teams to position Merkle as the preferred SI for multi-cloud and Agentforce implementations — participating in joint GTM planning, maintaining best-practice currency, and representing Merkle in partner-facing forums and events.

Solutioning Asset Development

• Building and maintaining a library of repeatable pre-sales assets — architecture frameworks, discovery playbooks, demo environments, RFP response modules, and proposal templates — that systematically elevate the practice's ability to pursue and win Salesforce and Agentforce opportunities at scale.

• Emerging Salesforce Capabilities Staying current on emerging Salesforce innovations (Agentforce, AI-driven features, new cloud capabilities) and advising clients on strategic applicability—when to adopt, what prerequisites exist, how to sequence implementations.

• Identity & Data Architecture

• Leveraging Merkle's Merkury identity platform and first-party data capabilities as native inputs to Salesforce Data Cloud architectures — ensuring identity resolution, consent management, and audience activation are woven into every solution design as differentiating infrastructure, not add-on services.

• AI Readiness & Agentforce Strategy

• Defining Merkle's approach to Agentforce solutioning — including how data readiness, identity resolution, and customer 360 infrastructure are prerequisites for production-grade AI agent deployment — and translating that framework into client-ready discovery conversations and proposal narratives.

• Practice Elevation & Enablement

• Contributing to DDM capability development by informing Salesforce-related hiring profiles, certification strategy, and delivery team enablement. Generating external thought leadership — conference presence, written content, LinkedIn — that builds Merkle's market credibility within the Salesforce ecosystem.

• Business Impact & ROI This role is the linchpin between Merkle's Salesforce platform investment and the revenue it generates. Without senior, dedicated solutioning leadership for Salesforce multi-cloud and Agentforce, pursuit teams are left assembling ad hoc architectures under proposal pressure — resulting in underscoped engagements, misaligned client expectations, and delivery risk that erodes margin. The VP, Salesforce Solutions directly protects and grows the Salesforce portion of DDM revenue by ensuring that every opportunity Merkle pursues is shaped with the technical precision and competitive differentiation required to win. In a market where Salesforce SI engagements are increasingly contested by pure-play consultancies, Publicis-aligned competitors, and boutique Data Cloud specialists, this role is Merkle's answer to the question: why you?This hire also reinforces Merkle's credibility with Salesforce as a preferred delivery partner — demonstrating depth in multi-cloud solutions, Data Cloud and Agentforce that strengthens co-sell relationships, increases joint pipeline, and supports Merkle's positioning within Salesforce's partner ecosystem at a moment when that ecosystem is reorganizing around AI.

Qualifications

• Required

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university; advanced degree or relevant certifications (Salesforce Architect, Consultant, or equivalent) strongly preferred

• 10+ years of experience in Salesforce platform strategy and solutioning roles—with demonstrated success shaping client strategy and winning complex, multi-stakeholder pursuits

• Deep, real-world Salesforce cloud and Data Cloud expertise — not just familiarity, but hands-on advisory experience with Salesforce Cloud implementations. Should be able to speak credibly about multiple Salesforce clouds (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud) and how they integrate.

• Demonstrated understanding of emerging Salesforce features and AI capabilities. Must be comfortable translating platform innovations into client-relevant use cases without requiring deep technical implementation knowledge.

• Proven pre-sales or solutioning track record: experience presenting to C-suite audiences, shaping large-scope proposals, and directly influencing enterprise purchase decisions in a competitive evaluation context

• Deep fluency in first-party data strategy — identity resolution, consent and privacy management, data clean rooms, and omnichannel activation — with the ability to translate these concepts into client-ready business narratives

• Excellent executive presence and communication skills; must be able to translate Salesforce platform capabilities and strategic trade-offs into business-relevant language.

• Strongly Preferred

• Prior experience at a consulting, systems integration, agency, or MarTech vendor environment — with demonstrated ability to manage multiple client and pursuit contexts simultaneously

• Understanding of Salesforce partner ecosystem and complementary tools (Tableau, MuleSoft, Snowflake, Slack, Adobe, Tealium) and how they integrate with Salesforce for comprehensive solutions.

• Familiarity with Merkle's competitive landscape: Publicis Sapient / Epsilon, Accenture Song, IBM iX, and boutique Salesforce SI partners — with a point of view on where Merkle wins and why

• Experience working with or positioning a proprietary identity resolution platform (Merkury, Acxiom, LiveRamp, or equivalent) as infrastructure within a Salesforce or CDP architecture

• Demonstrated external thought leadership — speaking, writing, or recognized expertise within the Salesforce, CDP, or marketing data ecosystem

• Familiarity with AI agent deployment patterns, LLM integration in CX workflows, and the data prerequisites for agentic personalization at enterprise scale

There will be up to 25% travel

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our Company and clients, which may include attendance in an office.

The annual salary range for this position is $163,000 - $250,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.

Benefits available with this position include:

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance,

• Life insurance,

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance,

• 401k,

• Flexible paid time off,

• At least 15 paid holidays per year,

• Paid sick and safe leave, and

• Paid parental leave.

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com. #LI-hybrid #LI-JH2 #LI-remote

Location: USA - Remote - Connecticut

Brand: Merkle

Time Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent

Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.

Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to ApplicantAccommodations@dentsu.com by clicking on the link to let us know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.